Impact Surprise Freamunde

FREAMUNDE, Portugal – The Montreal Impact won 5-1 (halftime 2-1) against Sport Clube Freamunde, a second division Portuguese club playing in the League of Honour, Wednesday in Freamunde, in the first of three exhibition matches in Portugal, played under heavy rain conditions and wind squalls of more than 70 km/h.

“Even if the score doesn’t truly reflect the game, the victory is fully deserved because the Impact was the best team on the field. The result is really fair,” declared Impact head coach Marc Dos Santos.

“Maybe Freamunde didn’t approach the game in the best manner, while we came here with the same attitude than during a league match. I think we surprised them.”

Forward Roberto Brown opened the score at the 13th minute by deflecting with a header a corner kick from midfielder Felipe Soares, who was facing his former team.

Then at the 26th minute, Soares scored following a cross to the far post from defender Adam Braz, which forward Eduardo Sebrango then headed for Soares.

After a series of changes in the second half, the Impact added three more goals. At the 78th minute, Pierre-Rudolph Mayard completed the play of midfielders Philippe Billy and Rocco Placentino.

Less than five minutes later, Placentino scored Montreal’s fourth goal with a left foot shot to the right of SC Freamunde goalkeeper. On the sequence, left midfielder Leonardo Di Lorenzo crossed for Reda Agourram, who made a pass to Placentino, left alone on the right flank.

Agourram scored the last goal of the match at the 90th minute. On a long deep pass from Valentin Radevich, Agourram dribbled the goalkeeper before netting the ball in an empty goal.

“At halftime, we were leading 2-1 because we had controlled most of the first half,” added Dos Santos.

“In the second half, they put more pressure on us and they tried to tie the game, but our players who got into the game were very dangerous. We did very well on counterattacks by adding a lot of speed. This allowed us to score three more goals.”

“I think we played really well and didn’t let the conditions affect us,” declared defender Adam Braz, who played the first 74 minutes of the game on the right flank.

“We stuck to our game plan and played really well as a unit. It was a true collective effort and this shows in the score line. Every week and every game, we keep growing. Our goal is to keep improving because even if these games don’t count for points, they are still definitely important for us.”

Goalkeeper Matt Jordan played the full 90 minutes of the match and allowed only one goal. At the 14th minute, Jordan had no chance when the ball accidentally deflected on defender Simon Gatti just in front of the goal.

Eduardo Sebrango quit the game at the 35th minute, after suffering a mild concussion when he was hit in the face with the ball.

SC Freamunde is currently 10th in the 16-club ranking of the League of Honour Championship, with a record of six wins, seven losses and seven draws.

The Impact will play its second match in Portugal Saturday at 3 pm against third division club CD Ribeirao (Second division, Northen zone).

IMPACT LINEUP
Matt Jordan, Simon Gatti (Amine Meftouh, 84th), Cédric Joqueviel, Stefano Pesoli, Adam Braz (Hicham Aaboubou, 74th), Filipe Soares (Pierre-Rudolph Mayard, 72th), Tyler Hemming (Patrick Leduc, 58th), Philippe Billy (Valentine Radevich, 88th), Tony Donatelli (Leonardo Di Lorenzo, 58th), Eduardo Sebrango (Reda Agourram, 35th), Roberto Brown (Rocco Placentino, 60th).